It’s advisable to let your students practice the Rescue Diver exercises in Confined Water before moving on to open water, though it’s not required.
Exercise 1 ‐ Tired Diver at the Surface
Assist a responsive diver who is tired at the surface. Students should demonstrate the following:
- Assess the diver
- Approach
- Make contact with the Tired Diver
- Reassure the Diver
- Remove equipment
- Assist the diver towards shore or boat
Exercise 2 ‐ Panicked Diver at the Surface
Assist a diver who is in a state of panic and not thinking rationally. Students should demonstrate the following:
- Assess the diver
- Approach
- Make contact with the panicked diver
- Release from a panicked diver
- How to avoid being held by a panicked diver.
Exercise 3 ‐ Responsive Diver in Distress
Assist a responsive diver in distress. Students should demonstrate the following:
- Non‐swimming methods to assist someone, such as reaching out or throwing something to them.
- Enter the water, ensuring they keep the victim in sight and swim steadily to conserve energy.
- Techniques for both aiding and rescuing individuals, with and without flotation equipment.
- Different methods of towing the diver, both with and without equipment, such as underarm push, tank valve tow, and modified tired‐swimmer carry.
- Exits
Exercise 4 ‐ Distressed Diver Underwater
Assist a distressed diver underwater. Students should demonstrate the following:
- Identify and correctly respond to a diver simulating overexertion underwater.
- Identify and correctly respond to a panicked diver making an uncontrolled ascent.
- Correctly identify and provide air to a diver simulating an out‐of‐air emergency via an alternate air source, and make a controlled air‐sharing ascent.
Exercise 5 ‐ Missing Diver
Efficiently search for and locate a missing diver underwater by following an appropriate search pattern.
- Identify search area
- Determine the appropriate search pattern for the area and conditions
- Conduct the search
Exercise 6 ‐ Bringing an Unresponsive Diver to the Surface
Assist an unresponsive diver to the surface. Students should demonstrate bringing an unresponsive diver to the surface using either the rescuer or divers buoyancy control.
Exercise 7 ‐ Unresponsive Diver at the Surface
Assist an unresponsive diver at the surface. Students should demonstrate the following:
- Call for help while stabilising their buoyancy and gently turning them face up. Then, check if they are breathing.
- Remove their mask and regulator, check their airway, and confirm that they are breathing correctly.
- Perform rescue breathing in water using the following techniques:
- Mouth‐to‐rescue breathing mask
- Mouth‐to‐mouth
- Mouth‐to‐nose (optional)
- Mouth‐to‐snorkel (optional)
- While administering effective rescue breathing, show how to remove equipment from both the victim and rescuer while towing the diver towards an exit.
It’s important to remind students that they need to decide whether to perform rescue breathing while in water based on their proximity to the shore or boat. The goal of this exercise is to get them ready for the worst-case scenario.
Exercise 8 ‐ Removing an Unresponsive Diver from the water
Techniques for removing an unresponsive diver from the water. Students should demonstrate the following:
- Safely remove an unresponsive diver who is breathing from the water.
- Safely remove an unresponsive diver who is not breathing from the water.
If the rescuer’s size is not sufficient to aid the victim, assistants may be utilised by the rescuers.
Exercise 9 ‐ Administering Oxygen and First Aid for a Diver with Suspected DCI
Administer first aid for suspected DCI and provide oxygen. Students should demonstrate the following:
- Provide oxygen to an unresponsive diver with suspected decompression illness who is breathing
- Provide oxygen and use a rescue breathing mask for rescue breathing for a non‐breathing diver.
Exercise 10 ‐ Responding to an Unresponsive Diver, at the Surface, who is not Breathing
Respond to an unresponsive non‐breathing diver at the surface. For a diver who is unresponsive and not breathing at the surface, students should demonstrate performing in‐water rescue breathing, exit the water, and administer CPR.